Following Carlos Sainz’s emergency ‘sick leave,’ Oliver Bearman—the British F2 racer—was called on short notice by Scuderia Ferrari for the FP3 session, where he had an impressive first run with a P10 finish.
His performance plunged a bit at the qualifying rounds, as he plucked a P11 spot of the Jeddah Corniche circuit. However, the Ferrari rookie Oliver Bearman put forth a ‘surprising’ show in his F1 debut at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Oliver Bearman scores points on F1 debut
Oliver Bearman, aged 18 years and 306 days, made his official debut in Formula 1 at yesterday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, becoming the youngest-ever driver for Ferrari and the youngest-ever British F1 driver. Last night, he also became the 776th driver to participate in an F1 Grand Prix and the 97th to do so for Ferrari.
The British Bearman started his first Formula 1 race from P11 at the Jeddah grid, after a ‘tough Q3 session a day earlier. After the red lights went out, he pulled off an impressive run, featuring a series of ‘aggressive’ overtakes, reminiscent of Carlos Sainz’s ones on Leclerc, on Yuki Tsunoda and Nico Hulkenberg.
As the Grand Prix raced on, Ollie felt the pressure from McLaren’s Lando Norris and the seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, whose cars were screwed in with softer tires.
Luckily, after a putting on a great fight, Oliver Bearman crossed the chequered flag at the 7th spot, with a lap time of 1:21:25.952 hours. In the end, he grabbed away 6 points from the Saudi Arabian GP, and currently sits at P10 in the Driver’s Standings.
The most highlighting moment of Bearman’s debut was that he managed to finish in a higher position than his native neighbor and future mate Lewis Hamilton, who grabbed away P9 and 2 points. This achievement played the biggest role in handing him the ‘Driver of the Day’ award in his F1 debut race.
After his Formula 1 debut with the Italian outfit, Oliver Bearman skyrocketed the excitement of the F1 fans with his point-scoring performance.
F1 fans react to Bearman’s debut
In the aftermath of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the 18-year-old Bearman sent a shockwave of surprise to the Formula 1 community with his P7 and ‘Driver of the Day’ clinches. The Formula 1 fans, especially the ones on the Italian Giants’ side, soon took to social media to express their shock and appreciation for his debuting performance.
Comparing Oliver Bearman and ‘future-Ferrari man’ Lewis Hamilton, who was leapfrogged by the rookie driver by 2 positions, one fan commented with the caption, “Ferrari signed the wrong British driver for 2025”.
The X (formerly Twitter) users also compared him with the other drivers whom he overtook in the results sheet, such as the likes of Logan Sergeant, Tsunoda, and Daniel ‘Honey Badger’ Ricciardo, and commented the following:
Emphasizing on Bearman’s potential, another fan on X, commented with the caption “Give this kid a seat”.
Ollie also received the regular ‘congratulations’ and formal compliments:
Oliver Bearman will now travel to Melbourne with the Red outfitters and might even race on March 24th at the Australian Grand Prix, if Carlos Sainz remains ‘medically’ sidelined.
Can Bearman put forth better results for Ferrari in his next race, if given the chance? Or will he fail to deliver at the second race? Will Ferrari even keep him till next season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
